Re: [SuSE Linux] HELP! w/ Linux Boot Menu under Win95: LILO
Hi I thing you hav't understood the boot process of linux. 1. step Wether if you use LILO or LOADLIN both are only resposible for load & start the linux kernel. This runs most the time. If you can read uncompressing kernel on screen, the kernel has been found and starts running.!!! But a linux kernel include NOT only some basic HW drivers but allmost every driver and like W95 this drivers perform an autoprobing. This part often failed (also like W95). To get started you can inform your kernel with kernel parameters. This is a liddle bit (or much) sophisticated but is supported by both loaders. Often it is more simple to get rid of critical HW (e.g. NE2000 cards often confuse SCSI driver) and recompile the kernel w/o the critical driver. If the kernel can be load&start, there is no need to change the partition table 'active' entry, because the load stubb is running. Only dos & m$win need to be started from a active partition. Linux, OS/2 and much others can start from everywhere. 2. step When all your hardware is found and initialised, the kernel try to mount a root file system (any disk/partition or RAMDISK with e.g. umsdos, ext2-fs etc.) This is indicated by seeing a list of all found disks and partitions on screen followed by search for root / found messages.
Sven, I agree with your analysis of the standard SysV, AT&T, SUN, HP-UX or BSD boot process of a bootstrap program (lif ROM based reader) pulling in the kernal off a designated device and then passing control off to it. Which in turn start an 'init' process with all further boot processes controlled by it with guidance from configuration files. However that is not what has proven to be fact on linux using lilo. Point in fact, the system I mentioned I had problems with had no configuration problem that /sbin/init could not handle. I know this because: 1. I would boot on the SuSE 5.3 install diskette. 2. Load the SCSI kernel module. 3. Boot an installed system, giving it my /dev/sdb1 device file to boot from. I am not sure what mechanism the SuSE install diskette uses here; to pull in the kernal off of the designated device and pass control off to it. 4. The kernel would be loaded then executed all the way to run level 2 just fine. All config files in /etc and /sbin/init.d were exectued fine. The system is up and operational in X and on the network. This same kernel would not fully boot from lilo. lilo would load it but it, as in Chris' case, would halt after issuing the (Unable to open Initial Console) error message. I don't want to belabor the point, I am only stating that lilo does not get adequate attention. Otherwise, individuals would not have as many problems as they do, as seen on this and every other linux list server on earth. jpg P.S. I am more than willing to work with anyone who would like to investigate Chris' and my problem. I still believe that user cooperation is linux's greatest strength.
Hi
I thing you hav't understood the boot process of linux.
1. step Wether if you use LILO or LOADLIN both are only resposible for load & start the linux kernel. This runs most the time. If you can read uncompressing kernel on screen, the kernel has been found and starts running.!!! But a linux kernel include NOT only some basic HW drivers but allmost every driver and like W95 this drivers perform an autoprobing. This part often failed (also like W95). To get started you can inform your kernel with kernel parameters. This is a liddle bit (or much) sophisticated but is supported by both loaders. Often it is more simple to get rid of critical HW (e.g. NE2000 cards often confuse SCSI driver) and recompile the kernel w/o the critical driver. If the kernel can be load&start, there is no need to change the partition table 'active' entry, because the load stubb is running. Only dos & m$win need to be started from a active partition. Linux, OS/2 and much others can start from everywhere.
2. step When all your hardware is found and initialised, the kernel try to mount a root file system (any disk/partition or RAMDISK with e.g. umsdos, ext2-fs etc.) This is indicated by seeing a list of all found disks and partitions on screen followed by search for root / found messages.
From now on, the boot process is controlled by the init process which uses tables under /etc.
I may be wrong, but as far as I know, there is no way the boot loader can influence this process. If there are boot problems afterwards, you have to boot an alternate root system (for example the CD-ramdrive image), login as root, mount your faulty root filesystem and repare it.
So, there is no job to do for bootloader guys. Lilo and Loadlin are very stable. I prefere Loadlin because it's very easy to use different versions of kernels. (If you use lilo, it will hardcode the kernel-image location on disk. So any change to this image may cause (heavy?) failures.)
I'am using loadlin in very different systems (e.g. one system with two linux root fs's, one as umsdos and one as ext2-fs in parallel) and have never seen problems on it. My newest install. is a suse 5.3 as umsdos on top of fat32 with W98. All this runs perfectly well.
Chris,
I experienced the same (Unable to open Initial Console) on my alternate system a couple of weeks ago. I also submitted this to the list, and read all documentation I could find on lilo, which is very meager considering the absolute importance of its main function - bootstrap an OS, and alternative boot managers. No success!
Someone responded to me indicating I needed to mark the partition active. In my case it didn't make sense since the linux kernel is on a separate disk, and by default was marked active. It was marked active by the way. You might try this, if your kernel is on the same disk as the Windows 95 OS, and it is not the first partition.
Anyway I had to resort to making a boot floppy with the kernel on it. as lilo is a very unstable product. I have had numerous problems with it over the past 3 years. My problems have been isolated to dual/triple/etc. boot systems, where the linux kernel was not on the first drive or not on the first partition of the first drive. I don't believe lilo gets that much attention due to the fact that once the 'developers' get their system to boot satisfactorily, lilo is no longer on their minds.
Good Luck, jpg
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